There is a clear difference between the way football players and leaders regard the role of the referee, compared to the way the refereeing body looks at it. The refereeing body regard themselves as fundamental for the existence of the sport, while the other mentioned parties merely see them as functional justice makers. This view places the referees outside the field of football. This establishes a football culture, which is conflicted when it comes to the role of the referees on the field. The conflict comes to its edge in youth football, where the referees are under severe pressure.

The overarching purpose is to describe how elite soccer clubs choose to structure their sport oriented organization. This purpose leads us to questions and areas involving sport managers, casting, operational directions, education and goal setting in sport.The results in this thesis are based upon a qualitative investigation of sport managers in Swedish elite soccer clubs. To strengthen the reliability in our choice of method we will fortify it with theories that reflect methodical choice.Our conclusions in this thesis is that one can see a clear difference in how the clubs choose to structure the casting and operational directions within their organization. We have also noted that there is a clear distinguish between the levels of education amongst sport managers in Swedish elite soccer clubs..

AimThe aim of this study was to investigate if the Swedish elite soccer teams, both males and females, have preventive strategies to reduce the risk of muscular injuries in the posterior thigh.MethodA survey was created and sent by mail to all (n=28) Swedish elite soccer teams in allsvenskan (both males and females) to be answered by the head of physical exercise within each team. A pilot study regarding the survey was performed by two soccer coaches on elite level and was revised afterwards. The survey was conducted between May through July 2013. In total, 18 soccer teams participated in this survey.Results10 soccer teams did not respond to the survey, which resulted in a drop out of 36%. Preventive strategies to reduce the risk of muscular injuries in the posterior thigh existed in 16 of the teams.

Abstract: Elite soccer in combination with education is a unique and demanding task. The path towards a glory career in sports takes hard mental and physical training. The objectives in this study are 6 elite focused high school students studying high school education programs in combination with football profile. They are 3 of each gender. The purpose of the study was to find out more about their perspective of motivation and what makes them keep going towards a career in football in beside their education.The study is of empiric hermeneutic survey used qualitative method and interviewing to collect data.

Abstract: Elite soccer in combination with education is a unique and demanding task. The path towards a glory career in sports takes hard mental and physical training. The objectives in this study are 6 elite focused high school students studying high school education programs in combination with football profile. They are 3 of each gender. The purpose of the study was to find out more about their perspective of motivation and what makes them keep going towards a career in football in beside their education.The study is of empiric hermeneutic survey used qualitative method and interviewing to collect data.

Denna studie hade som syfte att undersöka vilka orsaker till stress svenska elitfotbollsdomare upplever samt hur domarna hanterar den upplevda stressen. Vidare syfte var att undersöka hur stressen påverkar domarnas hälsa, och vilken påverkan stressen har på beteendet hos domarna. Urvalet till denna studie bestod av 10 svenska elitfotbollsdomare, både män och kvinnor, med domaruppdrag inom Allsvenskan eller Superettan säsongen 2011. En semistrukturerad intervjuguide användes under antingen telefon- eller personliga intervjuer. Intervjuerna analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys.

The purpose of this bachelor essay was to analyze two Swedish district footballassociations and how the responsible coaches of the elite youth developmentteams identify and select talent. Key questions in the thesis were how thecoaches described their leadership and their own part in the team, how thecoaches identify talent, how they work with the selection process and theiropinions about the elite youth development team structure. The study wasbased on 7 semi-structured interviews. The interviews showed differencesbetween the district football associations but also many similarities in how theyselected the team during the talent identification process. All coaches wereinvolved in the selection process but the way they talked about developing eliteplayers varied.

Elite sport is becoming more professional, and elite athletes have to be more committed to spend several hours in training to achieve elite level and this means that the time to pursue a university academic career to the side of elite sport is minimized. Still only few elite athletes will be able to make a living of their sport. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of the opportunities and difficulties for a student who combines academic study with elite sport. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight students studying at the University of Umeå, combining elite sport with academic studies. Results show that there are high demands on elite students to structure and plan for the combination of studies and elite sport.

Different field tests are currently used in a wide extent in different levels of soccer teams. To be able to assess the players? physiological status the tests must have high validity, reliability and external validity. Many different tests have been developt, but currently only five of these tests are most commonly used: Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (YIRT), Yo-Yo intermittent endurance test (YIET), Multi-sprint-test, Beep-test and Cooper-test. Presently there is no definitive conclusion regarding which of these tests is most suitable for soccer players.

Background - The trend of new soccer stadiums took off in England and the three key factors of this trend where security, economic value and growth. In the early 2000s the trend came to Sweden and Växjö. The soccer stadium, Värendsvallen were old and needed modernization.Purpose - The overall purpose of this study is to understand how Östers IF as a nonprofit organization has organized themselves when planning a large and complex project as the construction of a new soccer stadium. It also aims to portray how Östers IF has moved from concept to reality with the new soccer stadium.Method - The case study of the project organization in Östers IF where made ??using semi-structured interviews and participant observations.

Retiring from elite sport can be a difficult and disruptive process for an elite athlete. To improve the quality of the transition after retirement, elite athletes are recommended to have dual careers which mean they combine their sport with education to be prepared for a new career when they retire from elite sport. To help elite student-athletes with this combination, universities and sport organizations provide different kind of support. This study was conducted and aimed to investigate elite athletes? perceptions of support offered by a university in Sweden and the elite athletes? perceptions of combining top level sport and academic studies.

This qualitative study examines if an interest in soccer can give the same meaningfulexperiences in a person's life as a religion would. Five soccer fans were interviewedregarding the meanings and impact of soccer in their lives. Two theories in the fields ofsport and religion were used to analyze the data: Antonovsky's sense of coherence (SOC)with its components meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility and Heelasand Woodheads "life-as" and "the subjective-life? derived from the concept "thesubjective turn". It was concluded that the interest in soccer affected the respondents?views of life.The respondents? personal identities were strongly associated with groupmembership, meaning that their interest in common with others was perceived to makeeveryday life meaningful and manageable.

 ABSTRACTBackground: There are many studies of stretching and its effects on the body. Research shows that stretching can have both positive and negative effects on the body. Meantime there are no qualitative studies on stretching and how the opinion of stretching is among soccer players. Female soccer players are a group that is rapidly growing and that is injured to a great extent.Purpose: To describe stretching exercising female soccer players? opinion of stretching.Method: Ten stretching exercising female soccer players over fifteen years of age from two teams were interviewed in a semi-structured interview.

Aim and research questionsThe over-all aim of this study was to gain insight info how two male coaches of a specific soccer team behave in a practice environment with regards to educating the players.More specifically, the study sought to map the extent to which said behaviour matched two specific methods of learning; these being Teaching Games for Understanding (TgfU) and Enhanced Guided Discovery (EGD). Research questions: (1) Do the coaches employ the methods and guidelines, which are outlined in the educational plan provided by the soccer association? If so, what form does this application take in practice? (2) To what extent and in what ways do the coaches utilize feedback and questioning techniques in the education of players? (3) What similarities and differences in behaviour can be identified between the chosen soccer team?s two coaches?Method: The data for the study was collected through field observation. The subjects were two youth elite soccer coaches and observation of these coaches took place during five regular practice sessions on the soccer field. All data gathering and analysis were carried out using a modified version of the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS).

The social elite on Öland and in Möre in the south east of Sweden during the Iron Age is described on the basis of the archaelogical record, such as graves, settlements and traces of pre-Christian central places. The material is discussed to see if traces of an elite are to be found. The power configuration between Öland and Möre is also discussed.